Cybersecurity gets personal

Feb. 25, 2014 - 03:45AM
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Kevin Coleman is a senior fellow at Silver Rhino and former chief strategist at Netscape. (File)

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Ever consider your digital footprint?

The term refers to the sum of all the online information about an individual, plus all the data that is collected about that individual’s interaction with web sites and other online products and services. The increased concern was raised after security and privacy practitioners became aware of the opportunity for massive collection of personal data with the rapid advancement of the Internet of Things, or “IoT.” Those concerns were further intensified after recent disclosures that the auto industry is developing or planning interactive capabilities for the cars of the future.

One of the most common concerns when it comes to the IoT is the embedding of bi-direction interactive smart tags in common articles of clothing. How will individuals know when such a tag is active in a piece of clothing they are wearing? What data is it collecting? Who has access to it? As for the vehicle as a platform, the same holds true – what data is it collecting and who has access to it? Will that data be integrated with operational data like speed, headlight status (if they are on when it is dark) and so on?

Will the smart tags in clothing interact with the center console computer stack that will accompany the emergence of the vehicle as a platform? If that is indeed the case, could the driver of the vehicle be identified by a smart tag in clothing or smart card in a wallet and the vehicle as a platform collect the location of the vehicle on base, the vehicles control system records the speed and all that data be accessed by law enforcement (military police) so they can issue citations?

One individual went as far as to say if this ‘integrated active monitoring’ is what is in store for us in the not so distant future, those capabilities would create widespread security and privacy concerns. What else do you think these emerging technologies might allow?